Requirements (1)

1
Requirements (1)

• Home directories NICE ALNTS
• NT based (no Novell) No Yes
• File sharing, single password etc.
• Support 400 users Yes No
• Same environment for all users yes yes
• Backup/restore yes yes
• 24 hour assistance no no
• Reboots scheduled with users (no) (no)
• Disk space / quotas
• Under experiment control no yes
• Backup of local disks? no no
• Web access http//lhcb.cern.ch/user (no) yes
• Quality of service currently better on ALNTS, but
  cannot scale to 400 users

2
Requirements (2)

• Desktop software
• MS Office, Netscape, Phone book, Printing etc.
• Stability
• Users
• should be encouraged to use new versions, but
  should be able to choose timing
• should be able to install their own software and
  configure it, without fear of losing it after
  next NICE update
• Mirroring not acceptable - can choose when to
  mirror but not what to mirror. And it does not
  work...
• Support
• Mirroring to local server means no support
• No central support (mirrored system different
  from central system)
• No local support (no expertise)
• Local solutions mean poor support
• e.g. Printers
• Major cause of unhappiness, both NICE and ALNTS
  have pros and cons

3
Requirements (3)

• Physics software (LHC, CERNLIB)
• Must be able to choose version to use
• Possible with NICE and ALNTS
• Must be able to access latest features/bug fixes
  in new area
• Requires remirroring on ALNTS
• Compiler options and versions must be consistent
• Currently not possible to link together NICE
  versions of CERNLIB and LHC
• Access to central repository is a reasonable
  solution
• Provided LHCb and IT/ASD can agree on compiler
  options
• Central software repository (c.f. ASIS)
• For both desktop and physics software
• Notification of ALL changes
• To allow informed choice on what/when to update
• Automatic update should be possible with high
  granularity

4
Requirements (4)

• LHCb production software
• Project space needed, accessible to all LHCb
  users
• Currently on ALNTS
• Could be provided on central service
• Includes homegrown software, but also commercial
  software required (and supported) by LHCb
• (Who manages licenses?)
• Software Development Environment
• Should be accessible to all LHCb users
• LHCb specific configuration, requires support
  within LHCb
• LHCb specific desktop environment needed
• Identical for all LHCb users
• c.f. HepiX

5
Requirements (5)

• Development server
• In parallel to production service for LHCb
  community, computing group needs a private
  server to
• Test new tools
• Develop and test new software
• Test new configurations
• etc.
• By definition less stable, strange behaviour and
  random reboots should be acceptable

6
Conclusion

• Production service for 400 users best provided
  on centrally maintained server
• But requires major changes in NICE to allow
• Experiment specific services
• Experiment specific service configuration
• In parallel, small development server needed to
  support RD activities of well defined computing
  team.
• (c.f. Zodiac cluster in Aleph Online)